Trump's DOJ launches criminal probe into former New York magazine writer who accused him of sexual assault

Published: 01:29, 28 May 2026 | Updated: 01:59, 28 May 2026 The Department of Justice has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into E Jean Carroll, the former New York magazine writer who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault. The probe is believed to focus on whether Carroll, 82, committed perjury in her civil lawsuits against Trump, in which she claimed he sexually abused and defamed her, The New York Times reports, citing a person with direct knowledge of the situation.  Prosecutors are specifically looking at a 2022 deposition she made in which she claimed that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit - though it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some of her legal fees and expenses, according to CNN.  Andrew S Boutros, the Trump-appointed US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, opened the inquiry, as Hoffman has a nonprofit based in Chicago, sources claimed. Meanwhile, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is said to have recused himself from the investigation because he represented Trump in the Carroll case, for which she won a $5 million civil judgment against the president in May 2023. A federal jury in New York found Trump liable at the time of sexually assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. The jury also found Trump defamed her by saying on social media that her case was a hoax and a lie. Trump has since asked the Supreme Court to overturn it, and has pledged to do the same with the $83 million defamation case Carroll won against him. The Department of Justice has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into E Jean Carroll, the former New York magazine writer who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault (pictured last year) President Trump was found liable in May 2023 of sexually assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s In her videotaped 2022 deposition, Carroll told then-Trump attorney Alina Habba that nobody else was paying her legal fees. But just two weeks before the trial was set to begin, Carroll's attorneys informed the judge and Trump's lawyers they secured funding from Hoffman's nonprofit, even though they insisted the writer never met nor had any conversations with anyone at the organization. Upon hearing the admission, Habba argued in court that Carroll's legal team 'conspired to conceal the truth for nearly six months' about who was funding her lawsuit. Judge Lewis Kaplan then allowed Trump's lawyers to once again question Carroll in a deposition, which has not been made public.  When the trial then began two weeks later, Kaplan said he saw no issue with Carroll's credibility and blocked Trump's lawyers from asking about Hoffman's funding of the case. Billionaire Reid Hoffman  (pictured last year) had paid some of Carroll's legal fees and expenses This is a breaking news story and will be updated.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.